


Forget and forgive

by longhairshortfuse



Series: Backstory 101 [1]
Category: Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: Alcohol, Drunken Kissing, M/M, Regret, inadvisable sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-01
Updated: 2017-02-01
Packaged: 2018-09-21 10:47:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,340
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9545093
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/longhairshortfuse/pseuds/longhairshortfuse
Summary: (Related to episode 101)Earl's been dumped. Who's he going to turn to for comfort, but his best friend Cecil?





	

It was what a good friend should do, right? 

Cecil drove over as soon as he heard second hand, parked behind Earl's car in the driveway, bounded up to the door and pushed it open.  
"Earl-hun? It's just me. I was passing and... oh."

Earl was upset. Cecil watched his friend's face crumple, hardly needed to ask what the matter was, stepped into the hallway and offered him a hug.  
"Y'know, plenty more fish in the sea, Earl. Handsome guy like you? You'll catch another."  
Earl burst into tears outright at that.  
"Cee... cil..." he hiccuped and snorted onto his friend's shoulder, "I don't want another fish. I want..." Earl wiped his face then blew his nose on the almost-clean handkerchief Cecil offered him. "I want," he said, suddenly decisive, "to chase someone who wants to be caught for a change."  
"Oh-kay!" Cecil smiled. "Get cleaned up. I'm taking you out."

Earl hugged Cecil tight for a few seconds then took his hand and pulled him, Cecil making token protest, upstairs. Earl kicked a path across his floor, opened his closet doors and smiled.  
"C'mon, help me choose an outfit. Something irresistibly sexy. You're good at that."  
Cecil threw one arm around Earl's shoulders, awkward due to their heights, and reached into the depth of Earl's wardrobe with his other hand, wondering just exactly what Earl meant by that throwaway comment. He slipped his arm down to Earl's waist as he rummaged, one-handed, through Earl's clothing collection, mainly workaday khakis and jeans and tees, then realised where his hand was heading and let go. Earl, apparently, did not notice. Cecil pulled out tight, ripped jeans and a pastel teeshirt. Earl laughed.  
"You bought me those!"  
"And you never, ever wore them! Go take a shower then show me how you look."

Earl joined Cecil fifteen minutes later, hair still damp, outfit complemented by a plaited, white leather belt and tennis shoes. Cecil nodded and smiled.  
"You look so good, Earl! I could almost ask you for a date myself."  
"Sure," Earl laughed. "Why not. I mean, um, whatever. Where we gonna go?"

Cecil stifled a squeak at Earl's response. It was a ridiculous idea, wasn't it? They were friends, just friends, old friends. Best friends. They'd been there for each other through disappearances and breakups and... other things. And they were still friends. Nothing more or less. And that was neat, wasn't it?

Cecil wanted to drive them but Earl said no. He wanted to drink, and he wanted company that was not sober. Cecil capitulated easily. If his best friend needed a drinking partner, then that was the role he would dutifully fulfil. Cecil took Earl to their favourite bar, the one with the interesting decor and no less than three guest beers on tap. They settled by the bar, Cecil automatically reaching for his ID as he hailed the barkeep. Soon they had a glass each of the best fermented beverages Nightvale had to offer.

"I don't understand," Earl said after his fourth. "I'm an okay guy, right?" Cecil nodded with three-beer enthusiasm. "So," Earl continued, "why do I get dumped so often? Is it the uniform?"  
"No-o-o," Cecil shook his head and frowned. "You look great in your uniform! You're a real catch and I don't understand why you haven't... um... look the right person for you is out there somewhere. You'll find them! One day!"  
"Ugh," said Earl, signalling to the barkeep. "Maybe there isn't a right person for me. All I need is someone to talk to, who gets me, who can be there for me and I'll be there for them. Y'know? Like friends, best friends but with... but with... um... sex."  
Cecil choked and almost sprayed his beer.

"Nuther?" Cecil pointed vaguely at Earl's almost empty glass. Earl shook his head.  
"Gotta work in the morning. Let's go back to my place and... you better stay over. You can't drive home. Pizza?"  
"Kay," replied Cecil, slipping unsteadily from barstool to feet. They linked arms and wove their way out of the bar into the warm night. 

Forty minutes later, heads swimming and stomachs satisfied, the remaining pizza slices sensibly stowed in the refrigerator for breakfast, an old western on the late night TV, slouched on the sofa, the two friends looked at each other and smiled.  
"Hey," said Earl.  
"Hey, said Cecil, "you feel better?"  
"Yeah. Thanks for coming over tonight. I needed this."  
Cecil turned his attention back to the black and white film with the sound on just a little too low. Gunshots and a grainy figure clutched at its chest and fell forwards while music swelled. Cecil half-watched the flickering screen and imagined Earl calling him up one day. Soon, maybe.  
_I figured it out, Ceece, why I can't find the right person. It's you, isn't it? I should be with you._

"... of your car!"  
Cecil frowned. He's been too engrossed, staring at the TV screen, immersed in his own thoughts.  
"What?"  
"Oh! Haha, not important. I was just..." Earl grinned. "Just thinking about you and you-know-who doing it in the back of your car. How did you... I mean, it's not a big car!"  
"Earl!" Cecil feigned shock, then gigged. "Kinda like this."

Cecil swung a leg across Earl's and lurched into his lap, facing him, a hand on each shoulder. Earl giggled and grabbed Cecil's ass with both hands, squeezing firmly. Cecil hooted with laughter and the pair wrestled for a minute, Earl tipping Cecil off sideways and launching himself on top. Breathless and wheezing, Cecil yielded, lying back with his head on the arm of the sofa. Earl rolled off sideways and stretched out, landing on the carpet with a solid _whump_ that made Cecil giggle and Earl groan.

Earl caught Cecil's arm and pulled. Cecil rolled off the sofa, landing full length and helpless on top of Earl. Earl held Cecil around the waist and met Cecil's kiss halfway. Cecil, hands in Earl's hair, eyes closed and heart thumping, knowing this was a bad idea but yielding to the momentary madness anyway, kissed with softness and warmth. Earl replied with hunger and need. Earl broke off, sitting up, straddling Cecil on the floor.  
"Come to bed with me, Ceece. I don't want to go to sleep alone tonight. Just... hold me or something."  
Cecil sat up and smiled. If that was all Earl wanted, it was okay, right? If Earl said he needed a friend to hold him, Cecil _should_ oblige, right?  
Earl got to his feet, helped Cecil up and led him to bed.

 

Morning brought light and headaches. Earl, Cecil could hear, was in the shower. The warm indentation beside him attested to his recent rising. Cecil looked at his watch on the cabinet beside Earl's bed. It was early yet. He feigned sleep while listening to Earl find clothes and dry his hair, desperately trying to piece together the jigsaw of what the fuck happened last night. There had been a bar. And pizza. And a bad movie. And...

Oh.

He did not dare stir in case Earl saw that he was alert, but Cecil knew that when he looked over the edge of the bed on his side, there would be a discarded condom. The bedroom door opened and closed and the room fell too silent. Sounds of coffee came from elsewhere in the house, then the door opened again. 

"Hey, you awake? Uh, I gotta go. Let yourself out whenever, okay?" Earl sounded nervous. "There's coffee and... stuff."  
And then Earl was gone, the front door banging behind him on his too early departure for work. Cecil gave it ten minutes just to be sure, got up, dressed, threw out the detritus of the night before, turned off the coffee machine and went home.

Perhaps, he thought as he stood under his own shower for way too long, the right friendly text wouldn't fix what he'd done, but might signal that to him, agreeing to forget was as good as forgiveness.


End file.
